Page 19 of Friends with Benefits

Of course she’ll forgive Theo.

But right now? She still wants to be furious. Evie hasn’t even had a chance to unpack her complicated feelings about Next in Foley with Jules, who’s off this week because therapists need vacations, too. Evie needs Jules. Because Theo crossed every friendship boundary. She said no. Shemeantno. And yet the tiniest part of her loves that he knows her well enough to see right through this specific no. Evie isn’t sure what this means, but being mad at Theo is pretty much the worst feeling in the world. Sometimes, she wishes her best friend wasn’t so nice. It’d be way easier to stay furious if he radiated just a smidge of righteous asshole energy. But Theo apologized profusely, took accountability, and gave her the beat she needed that resulted in three harrowing days of apartment hunting.

So.

Evie listens to her sister.

Theo answers on the first ring. “Hey.”

“I’m still mad at you,” she says, despite the relief she can hear in that one-syllableheycracking her resolve to remain furious. “But Gen and I are about to turn over the keys to Pep and Mo and…”

She leaves the sentence unfinished, becauseshe is mad at him, damn it, and not willing to say how she feels—that it wouldn’t feel right, saying goodbye to the bungalow without him. But it’s the truth. How many hours did they spend inthat space—as kids doing homework together on the hideous mushroom rug in the living room during the ninety minutes between school and dance, as dancers rehearsing duets in the spare room with mirrored closet doors in the final hours before a competition, as adults watchingSurvivortogether every week?

A lot.

“What’s your ETA?” Theo asks.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll be there.”

They pull into the driveway fifteen minutes later, and there he is, wrapped in a Peppy Bloom embrace on the front porch—and whatever anger remained dissolves in real time, neutralized by his simple act of showing up for her. She cuts the engine and pushes her car door open, not at all ready to say goodbye. Imogen squeezes her hand after they exit. Theo’s eyes meet hers as Pep greets her and Imogen with hugs at the bottom of the porch steps.

“It’s a lot, isn’t it? Goodbye.”

“Sure is.”

Evie pulls away from her grandmother’s embrace, fishing for keys that sank to the bottom of her tote bag. Once retrieved, a ballet slipper charm imprints her palm as she removes the key that has belonged to her since she was ten, the key that has meanthomesince she was twelve. Imogen mirrors her, as little sisters so often do. Placing the keys in their grandmother’s palm, Evie has never felt more untethered because she is someone who clings to roots. Stability. Someone who is content to stay. Imogen hugs Theo hello, then pushes the front door open, disappearing into a house that’s no longer home for a final walk-through.

Evie is still.

Pep’s calloused thumb reaches toward her to brush a tear from her cheek. “It’s just a place, Evelyn.”

“I know.”

Mo approaches, tentatively, holding an envelope out to Evie. “Don’t argue.”

Inside is a wrinkled check made out to her for five thousand dollars.

Her eyes widen. “Grandpa—”

“Don’t. It’s for emotional damages,” he attempts to joke, but when Mo’s eyes meet hers, his expression is serious. “Ev. We’re aware that we put you in a shit situation by asking you to move with no notice. A situation that you have handled with so much grace and maturity. So you’re going to let us help you. Are we clear?”

Evie nods.

Mo squeezes her shoulder. “Good.”

Peppy Bloom and Mo Goldberg put their retirement plans on hold fifteen years ago, when Naomi left her daughters on the bungalow steps in the pouring rain.I love you so much, my tiny dancers, but I need a beat, Naomi had said, squatting to be eye level with a ten-year-old Imogen. Evie remembers not feeling fear or abandonment, only grateful that the rare downpour hid her angry tears. At least her father was a consistent, expected absence. Naomi was much more unpredictable. Burned out on being a mom, she’d often leave Evie and Imogen with their father’s parents for extended beats.

Most times, Naomi would be gone for a week.

Two, tops. Not that time.

So Pep and Mo made a home for the Bloom sisters in every way their parents weren’t capable of doing. Cared for them in all the ways Naomi and David couldn’t. Evie has accepted more than enough help from Pep and Mo over these last fifteen years.She refuses to take even a penny of their retirement money, but for now she’ll slip the check into her back pocket because it’s easier than arguing.

And she’ll rip it to pieces the moment they drive away.

“Where to next?” Theo asks.

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